RC 187 
.W79 
Copy 1 



TYPHOID FEVER 



BY ^ 

JOHN ELIOT WOODBRIDGE, M. D. 



"0 



A Report from the Transactions of the Fifty-Second 
Annual Meeting of the Ohio State Medical 
Society held at Cleveland, O. 




TYPHOID FEVER. 



BY 

John Eliot Woodbridge, M. D., Cleveland. 

The importance of my subject is sufficiently emphasized 
by the fact that in twelve of the principal cities of the 
United States (including the District of Columbia), there oc- 
curred during the decade ending with 1893 (the year in 
which I opened outside my local Society) , the discussion on 
the possibility of aborting typhoid fever, thirty-four thou- 
sand, one hundred and thirty-five deaths from the disease. 
This is a larger number than had died during any pre- 
vious like period in the histories of these cities. In 
some of them the number of deaths increased during 
nearly all of the time and is still increasing, notwith- 
standing the wonderful triumphs of sanitary science, 
and the vast sums of money that have been expended 
upon sanitary appliances for the prevention of the 
very class of diseases of which typhoid fever is the most 
conspicuous representative, and notwithstanding the marvel- 
ous discoveries of the bacteriologists and despite the palatial 
hospitals, the trained nurses, and the medical skill that have 
been devoted to the care of the patient and to the treatment 
of the disease. 

According to the most trustworthy estimates typhoid 
fever alone costs the people of this country more than 
eighty, probably more than an hundred millions of dollars 
each year. 

*More than three-quarters of this paper and all of the clinical 
charts are omitted under Rule VI of the By-laws, O. S. M. S. W. 



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I crave your indulgence for alluding in this sordid, 
calculating way to the money value of sacrificed human 
life, but we live in a utilitarian age, and nothing so im- 
presses the mind of many a modern legislator (to whom we 
must go for the enactment of sanitary laws), as the import- 
ance of arresting an annual waste of an hundred millions of 
dollars. I know of no way of measuring the actual cost of 
the disease — the suffering and agony of friends and relatives 
as they sit at the bedsides of victims of the disease or the 
grief and anguish of the heart-broken widows and orphans, 
who every year bend tearfully over the coffins of their dead. 
This is a loss to the families and to the nation which can 
never be paid for, and yet typhoid fever is both avoidable 
and preventable, and to prove that the disease is curable, I 
present to you the following reports of physicians who have 
treated typhoid fever by the method which I have advised. 

The report covers even- case of which I have any 
knowledge, in which this treatment (or any modification of 
it), has been claimed to have been used, although in many 
instances the formulae or the directions for their application, 
have been so altered or modified that of the originals little 
was left but the name and even that was given in derision 
or contempt. 

As extreme examples of the unwitting alteration or amend- 
ment of both formulae and directions, the reader is referred 
to the report of Dr. D., who directed one grain of pod- 
ophyllin and one drachm, each, of calomel and carbonate of 
guaiacol, to be divided into 5,516 capsules : and also to the 
account of another physician who, (taking his idea from the 
same paper), directed the same quantities of the same ingre- 
dients (which should be divided into 960 doses), to be 
exhibited in a single powder. Your attention is also called 
to the history of one of the cases of another Dr. D., who, 
because his r atient had diarrhoea, omitted the administration 
of formula Xo. 1. which contained the remedies most plainly 
indicated and which would have arrested diarrhoea. Read, 



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too, the report of the distinguished gentleman in New 
York (whose great ability we all respect), but who, in this 
instance, acting on the theory that the podophyllin and cal- 
omel in Formulae Nos. 1 and 2, are catharatics only, replaced 
these ingredients with Salts, despoiling the prescription of 
most valuable antiseptic properties. 

A careful examination of these reports will show that 
much more than a majority of the deaths that are said to 
have occurred under this treatment may be accounted for 
by one of the following explanations — the prescriptions 
were not correctly written — the remedies were not properly 
prepared, or they were not scientifically administered — or 
the treatment was instituted at too late a stage of the 
disease. 

I call your attention to the fact that in many instances in 
reporting the deaths, the physician signified that it was not 
intended that they should be included as deaths under the 
treatment. 

This is a report of the results of the treatment of typhoid 
fever by a given method and it would have been quite 
proper to have omitted all mention of those cases or deaths 
in which the treatment was not used in accordance with in- 
structions or was instituted after the patient was moribund 
It is not just to the method nor just to the physicians who 
have succeeded with it and have advocated its use, to debase 
or vitiate its death rate or the duration of illness with re- 
ports of failure for which it is in no way responsible. On 
the other hand if one known death or one failure is omitted 
from the report, its value would be impaired by the suspi- 
cion that others had also been left out. Therefore all are 
reported — those in which the treatment was instituted after 
the intestinal hemorrhage or perforation which caused the 
death had supervened — those in which the treatment was 
never fully instituted and even those in which the critics 
had blindly followed inadequate guides and loosely reported 



6 



their cases only to emphasize an adverse criticism of the 
method. 

The purpose of the presentation of this report is to enable 
physicians to estimate the value of the treatment that has 
been used by these physicians, and to accomplish this it 
must be above suspicion and there must be no doubt of the 
accuracy of the reports — no doubt as to the correctness ot 
the statistics and no doubt as to the justness of the conclu- 
sions, therefore the names and addresses of the observers are 
given in those instances in which permission to use the 
name had been granted. For this reason all unfavorable 
reports are included, in many of which it is known that the 
treatment was not properly applied. 

REPORTS OF PHYSICIANS. 

Youngstown, Ohio, July 17, 1893. 

J. E. Woodbridge, M. D. My Dear Doctor : "I think 
the time is fully ripe for the announcement of your claim. 
Others have, of late been making investigations along the 
same line but you can confidently assert priority. Certainly 
no less than seven or eight years ago you revealed to me 
the essentials of your treatment. I sincerely hope that all 
you claim for the remedies will be substantiated fully and 
that its virtue will ultimately receive general recognition. " 

John J. Thomas, 

Ten cases. No death. Youngstowm, Ohio. 

"As you know I was one of the first physicians in this 
place to give your — or the antiseptic treatment of typhoid 
fever a fair trial. I have treated 112 cases in the last four 
years by it. When I get the treatment started within the 
first four days I expect to control the fever within the next 
ten days. If I did not treat all of my cases of typhoid fever 
by this method, I would feel that I had not done my duty 
by my patients. Being germicidal and antiseptic, it, in my 



7 



opinion, is the most rational treatment yet devised, and in 
my hands it has been by far the most successful." 

John McCurdy, 

Youngstown, Ohio. 
"I am treating a good many cases of typhoid fever with 
success. The Sulpho-Corbolate of zinc boys are having a 
lonesome time." Ibid. 
One hundred and twelve cases. Four deaths. 

"I have used your treatment for typhoid fever for more 
than three years. During the first year I treated twenty- 
seven cases — all recovered — one had intestinal hemorrhage. 
As the treatment was new to me I did not have implicit 
confidence and possibly mixed too many other things with 
it. The highest number of visits to any one patient was 
twenty-two. The next year (1895), I treated seven cases* 
and the highest number of visits to any one patient was 
fourteen. During 1896 I treated twenty-three cases, with 
a maximum number of visits often. I have treated typhoid 
fever for more than twenty-five years and am familiar with 
its clinical characteristics. Every case I have enumerated 
was typhoid fever or none of them were, and you will see 
the improbability of a physician doing a general practice in 
Youngstown for three years without being called to a case of 
typhoid fever. I have treated one case this year." 

William C. Stafford, 

Fifty-eight cases. No death. Youngstown, O., May, 1897. 

"I wish to say that I have had experience with Dr. 
Woodbridge's treatment of typhoid fever and having fol- 
lowed cases with him, I know it will do all that he 
claims for it, if it is intelligently carried out. I have 
treated, and have seen Dr. Woodbridge treat the most severe 
cases with better results than I have ever known him to 
claim. The treatment far exceeds in value any other I 
have ever seen published or have heard of. I should consider 



s 



myself guilt}* of gross neglect of a case of typhoid fever which 
was under iny care, did I not use the Woodbridge antiseptic 
treatment. I attribute my success in the cases treated by 
me to the close observance of his skilful manner of 
conducting the treatment in my own family. I have no 
use for question five." 

Joseph O. Yost, 
Fifteen cases. No death. Youngstown, Ohio. 

" I have treated by this method fifty cases. Average 
duration of treatment fifteen days. Deaths none. Treat- 
ment was begun about the third day of the disease I have 
had no complications in any of my cases. Convalescence 
has been highly satisf acton', rapid and permanent. In my 
opinion the remedies you advocate in the treatment of 
typhoid fever, judiciousl}* used, will accomplish all you have 
claimed for them. In many of my cases the temperature 
reached normal about the 12th day of the treatment." 

John E. Fackler. 

Fifty cases. No death. Versailles, Ohio. 

"I treated twelve cases of typhoid fever with your three 
formulas. My second case this spring is now convalescing. 
I think well of the eliminative and antiseptic treatment and 
I am convinced that it is the best. About one-half of my 
cases last year aborted or were cut short within a very few 
days. I have had no delirium, no severe tympanites, no 
death. I think you have done the profession a good ser- 
vice in developing your plan of treating typhoid fever." 

Matthias Bortz, 

Sixteen cases. No death. Cleveland, Ohio. 

" I have not been able to abort all cases. I would like to 
talk matters over with you so that my work in the future 
may be as successful as yours. I have treated eighty-five 
cases. The average duration of the treatment has been 



9 



from ten to fifteen days ; in a few cases of relapse it has 
been very much longer." 

John F. McGarvey, 
Eighty-five cases. No death. Lorain, Ohio. 

"The case of which I wrote you was a typical one, im- 
ported from Cincinnati, from a building in which typhoid 
fever was prevailing. This is the only opportunity I have 
had of trying your treatment, but the first chance I have I 
intend to give it a fair trial, as I am very much impressed 
with what I have seen .and heard of it and I believe in it. 
With best wishes." 

John H. Caldwell, 
One case. No death. Waverly, Ohio. 

"My experience is limited to two cases under this treat- 
ment. The first case had been ailing a week or more and 
had been in bed for two or three days when I first saw her. 
She was about seventeen years of age. I found her with a tem- 
perature of 105, pulse 130, very restless and delirious. This 
was 11:00 p. m., of August 10th. I followed the general 
directions of the Woodbridge treatment as nearly as possible 
and she had a temperature of 98 on August 25th, after which I 
saw her no more. In the next case I began the treatment 
somewhat earlier, diagnosing the disease in my office. Lady 
about thirty years of age. Visited her at her house the 
next day and found the temperature 102. She was intelligent 
and fully appreciated her situation, having just lost her father 
by the same disease. I promised her a normal temperature 
in two weeks. The highest temperature was 103, and she 
was not very sick at any time. On the 14th day of 
treatment the thermometer registered 98 2-5. I had no 
troublesome tympanites or dry tongue, and in the first case 
the marked nervous symptoms began to subside with the 
fever from the beginning. I have used the remedies in 
some other cases of doubtful character and short duration. 



10 



I believe the treatment to be on the right line and shall 
continue to use it, confident that it will serve me well. 

Orillus M. Corson, 
Four cases. No death. Middletown, Ohio. 

"I have treated several cases of typhoid fever with Dr. 
Woodbridge's treatment, and find that it will invariably 
cut the fever short, if commenced early enough in the disease, 
the illness lasting often only a few daj's, the temperature 
soon dropping to normal and remaining there. If I were 
stricken with typhoid fever, or one of my family were taken 
down with the dread disease, I think I would feel like send- 
ing for Dr. Woodbridge from the Atlantic Coast to the 
Golden Gate." 

James A. Dickson, 
Fifteen cases. No death. Youngstown, Ohio. 

" I have been using the treatment you advocate for the 
past three months in my work in the Harper Hospital and 
I am convinced that the method is all right. No cases died 
though I am sure they would have done so had any other 
treatment been carried out. I made the thirteen cases I 
had the subject of a paper which I read before the Detroit 
Academy of Medicine. I compared this plan with the work 
of two years ago. All were surprised at the remarkable 
descent of the fever line after a few days of treatment, but 
no one was more pleased than I at the record. It was so 
easy to give the medicines after the first twenty- four hours 
and so different from the tiresome Brand method of bathing, 
that I was delighted with it. Lam heartily in favor of the 
method and feel satisfied with my first trial of it in the 
treatment of typhoid fever." 

George Duffield, 
Detroit, Michigan. 



n 



" In all of the cases it proved satisfactory, shortening the 
disease and lowering the temperature. The cases were not 
selected, but are all that came under my care while I was 
on duty. There is no tendency to relapse, no unfavorable 
complications arise, and the bad effect of prolonged stimu- 
lation is done away with. I found the plan a most success- 
ful one, and heartily commend it to my fellow practitioners. 

Ibid. 

"As you are aware I have been for the last year a zealous 
advocate of your method ol treating typhoid fever." 

Twenty cases. No death. Ibid. 

"My experience with your " plan " has been very exten- 
sive comparatively, since writing the paper and it only con- 
firms my previous opinion of its merits. Out of some forty 
more cases I have had no fatalities. These were treated 
during last fall. If my feeble efforts are of any use to you 
they are yours truly. I feel very grateful to you for your 
writings and labors in this field, as they have been a great 
help to me." 

P. A. Gordon, 
Seventy cases. One death. Junction City, Ohio. 

" In regard to my treatment of typhoid fever I will say, 
the cases which I have reported have been truly reported 
and I attribute the good results to the treatment. They 
have been, to all appearance, as severe as others treated on 
the old plan that have run from ten to fifteen days longer. 
Perhaps I may have had a fortunate run of cases, but I 
think not." 

Frederick Grover, 
Sixteen cases. Two deaths. Fraser, Mich. 

" We are having an unusual epidemic of typhoid fever in 
our locality. The source of contagion is of such a nature 
that the physician 3 of our town will have to contend with some 
hundred more cases. I am going to continue your treat- 



12 



merit in some twenty cases now under observation. I have 
followed very closely your directions and must say the effects 
have been wonderful. In no instance have I failed to relieve 
my patients within three weeks and often within two. In 
that time, understand, some of them were sitting up, others 
moving about and in a manner attending to their usual 
business. Many cases I have commenced upon ivhen the 
fever had reached the 103° and 104° point. Of course they 
had no serious intestinal lesions; however, when I discover 
the matter has passed to an intestinal involvement I yet get 
splendid results. With anyone who uses your treatment and 
exactly as you direct, nothing but the most happy results will 
be the outcome. 

Chauncey I. Burt, 
Lake City, Iowa. 

1894. 

"I note that you are to defend yourself * * * It does 
not seem to me that one ought to produce a defense in the 
line of argument ; if any of the gentlemen will permit 
themselves to follow out your instructions and use your 
treatment — there would be no need of argument — they 
w 7 ould coincide with all your views. It is just as positive 
that typhoid fever can be aborted by your method, as it is 
that it cannot be under . any other treatment of which I have 
any knowledge. I have had some sixty cases during this 
winter and have made no mistakes in the diagnosis, as our 
most eminent local authorities have assisted me, from time 
to time, in the diagnosis. Typhoid fever in this country is 
now cleared up entirely, and I assure you that a personal 
reputation has been made by myself in handling the same, 
ow T ing to thoroughly following out your antiseptic treatment. 

1895. 

"Since commencing your treatment, I have not lost a 
single case. The average duration w T as about two weeks, 
it should have been less, and w r as due to the poor 
nursing, etc. I never feel disturbed in treating typhoid 



13 



fever when following closely your instructions and using 
your formulas. I have tried modifications, but never with 
the same success. Other physicians at this point, have 
likewise had success in using the antiseptic treatment and 
now all admit of its being a specific. 

1896. 

" You have my experience of 1894-5. In 1896-7 to date 
I have treated twenty more cases with your treatment with 
more than former success, due, no doubt, to my better under- 
standing the method. I have lost but one case, (a person 68 
years old), in which I commenced the treatment in the third 
week. The symptoms w T ere modified perceptibly in a few 
days, but due. to age, emaciation, and subsequent hem- 
orrhage, I was unable to cure the patient. The greater 
number of the physicians in this vicinity use this 
treatment." 

19th of May, 1897. 

Eighty-five cases. One death. 

"I have treated twenty cases of typhoid fever by your 
method. In two cases there was intestinal hemorrhage. 
Ever since it has been my good fortune to use your valu- 
able treatment, I have not lost a single case. I certainly 
think you have struck the keynote in the " abortive treat- 
ment of typhoid fever" and suffering humanity owes you a 
debt which it will be hard to pay. It is a great satisfaction 
to a physician to know that by his untiring researches he 
has saved the lives of so many of his fellow creatures." 

John A. Dunwody, 

Twenty cases. No death. Cripple Creek, Colorado. 

" I have treated by the method you have advised thirty- 
seven cases of typhoid fever. Twenty-two of these were 
children under fourteen years of age and these were treated 
in The Orphan Asylum with which I have been connected 
for eighteen years. The remaining fifteen were adults. All 



14 



of these cases recovered except one — a feeble child which 
could not have survived any serious illness. The children 
recovered in one-half the time in which such cases usually 
recover. When the treatment was instituted in the very 
initial stages of the disease in the adults (as it was in about 
one-third of these cases) the treatment was not extended 
beyond nine days. One case had been under the care 
of another physician for about a week before coming 
to me. It was a typical and rather severe case but the tem- 
perature touched normal on about the seventh day of my 
treatment. Three of my patients were pregnant women but 
all made excellent recoveries without aborting. Heretofore, 
I have been, with one possible exception, the closest fol- 
lower of the Brand method in the city." 

Henry C. Brainard, 
Thirty-seven cases. One death. Cleveland, Ohio. 

" I unfortunately have not kept a record of the patients 
treated by the Woodbridge method, but I do know 
that 1 have never had better success in the treatment of 
typhoid fever before I began using it. I have treated 
twelve cases, all of which recovered. I was called in con- 
sultation to see three of the cases, each of whom had been 
sick three wee^ks. I at once placed them on your treatment 
and improvement began in two or three days. In the other 
cases the average duration of the disease was not ten days. 
Hoping that this report may be beneficial to you in making 
your records." 

Josiah J. Harrison, 
Twelve cases. No death. Loudon, Tenn. 

" In most of my cases I have used the Woodbridge treat- 
ment alone, without auxiliary measures. I feed liberally, 
insist on cleanliness and plenty of fresh air. I have been 
able to keep the temperature down to 102^, 102 and 101, 
without arterial sedatives or any of the coal-tar prepara- 



15 



tions. I do not use the sponge bath as an adjunct. I be- 
lieve with Dr. Woodbridge that every case can be cured if 
seen before the eighth day, unless there are very grave com- 
plications." 

Columbus N. Udell, 
Eighty cases. Three deaths. Blakesburg, Iowa. 

" I send you twelve charts of cases treated by me, using 
your method, during the months of October and November, 
1895, when an outbreak of typhoid fever occurred in our 
village. 

" In September last I had one case, which I treated in my 
usual manner of baths and phenacetine, to reduce tempera- 
ture, and salol and sulpho-carbolate of zinc as intestinal 
antiseptics, with the usual result of a normal temperature 
in the fourth week. When I began to use your method, it 
happened that several of the inhabitants ot" our town were 
afflicted with typhoid of no mild variety and I treated all 
but three of the cases. These were treated by antipyretics 
and expectancy, with the result of one death on the twenty- 
second day, one relapse after fifteen days — the second at- 
tack lasting four weeks, and the other cases terminating in 
recovery at the end of four weeks. 

" The average duration of the cases under your treat- 
ment from the beginning till the temperature reached nor- 
mal, was twelve days. I have seen in the late medical 
journals the unfavorable comments of some of the most 
eminent writers and practitioners of our country in regard 
to your method and will say with my distinguished teacher, 
William E. Quine, 4 No one has a right to .condemn it with- 
out proof.' Hoping that this meager account of the cases 
that were treated under my supervision will be of some 
service to you and to mankind." 

Willam R. Kelly, 
Twelve cases. No death. Watonga, Okla. 



16 



" I have treated twenty-seven cases of typhoid fever, us- 
ing your prescriptions in all of them. Since I began using 
the antiseptic treatment, I have not lost a case. I am con- 
vinced that there is a great deal in it. I have great faith in 
it, for my cases have all done well." 

Thomas M. Wright, 

Twenty-seven cases. No death. Troy, Ohio. 

"I take pleasure in reporting briefly that I have treated 
twenty cases by the antiseptic method, employing your 
formulae in the main, and that there have been no deaths so 
far. The average duration of treatment has been about 
two weeks." 

Boardman Reed, 
Twenty cases. No death. Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

" Treated by your tablets twelve cases and no deaths. 
Average duration about fifteen days. There were thirty 
or forty cases treated here last fall (an epidemic occurred) 
without a death in those cases that were treated by your 
method; although three deaths occurred under other treat- 
ment. I had two families in which there were two and 
three cases, respectively, one in each family being treated 
by the old plan, and each of these cases ran from three to 
four weeks, whereas the cases treated antiseptically ran a 
lighter and very much shorter course — about ten days. All 
cases getting the treatment early, showed emphatically the 
superiority of the abortive treatment." 

Lawrence Reynolds, 

Twelve cases. No death. Horton, Kansas. 

' 1 1 enclose two charts of patients treated with your 
method or a slight modification thereof. The protracted 
case occurred in the practice of Dr. Mearns, and was given 
the drugs under my observation, and aside from relieving 
the delirium, which it did at once and the absence of all 



17 



complications, especially tympanites, the disease ran rather 
a long course. The other case is the one occurring among 
the civilians of the Post, in the service of Dr. Arthur, who 
kindly gave me permission to enclose the chart. These 
charts are at your disposal and need not be returned." 

William Roberts, 
Two cases. No death. Fort Myer, Virginia. 

" I am well satisfied that you have done a great thing 
for humanity in calling the attention of the profession to 
this method of treatment, and, while I cannot bring my 
mind to a full conviction that every case of typhoid can be 
aborted even when treatment is commenced at an early 
stage. I am fully convinced that some cases may be so 
abridged, and that all cases may be favorably modified and 
the natural course of the disease much shortened by care- 
fully following your directions." 

William T. Dodge, 
Fifteen cases. Four deaths. Big Rapids, Michigan. 

" I have been using your treatment for over two years, 
and in that time I have treated forty-five cases of typhoid 
fever commencing at all stages of the disease — in several 
instances they were watching for the patients to die. 
Where I am called early I seldom treat a case over 
six or seven days, and the longest I have been com- 
pelled to treat a case was twelve days. Several of the 
cases were full blooded typho-pneumonia, and the 
worst case I had I took charge of on the 9th of April, 
and made my last visit to him on the 19th, when I left him 
in bed, but feeling well and without a trace of fever. Out 
of all these cases I have not had a death. I am fully sat- 
isfied with your treatment, and can cheerfully testify to the 
fact that you have in no way exaggerated the benefit that is 
to be derived by the adoption of your treatment. I have 
received many flattering reports from my medical exam- 



18 



iners from several different states. I am satisfied that the 
death losses in our Order have been lessened by the adop- 
tion of your treatment by the medical examiners and the 
physicians in general throughout our jurisdiction. With 
many good wishes for you and your treatment." 

James W. Morgan, 
Chief Medical Examiner, Home Forum Benefit Order, 

Fifty-nine cases, no death. Moline, Illinois. 

" My success with your treatment for typhoid fever has 
been wonderful, as you will see. I have treated fifty-nine 
cases without a single death. I have taken charge of all 
the cases as I found them, at all stages ot the disease. I 
liave treated one pregnant lady who made a good recovery 
and went to lull term. I discharge all cases within an aver- 
age period of ten days. Eight out of fifty-nine cases 
were complicated with pneumonia. I am full}' satisfied 
with your treatment and believe that if seen early every 
case can be aborted. I am with you in any way that will 
cause our profession to adopt your treatment." Ibid. 

May, 1897. 

" I first used the Woodbridge treatment in the fall of '94. 
Treated twenty cases in the months of September and Oc- 
tober, in the fall of 1895, and from August to October 25,1896, 
I treated forty-one cases. This was the entire number of 
cases I had in that time. I had one death. Patient had 
been sick one week when I was first called, and lived about 
eighteen hours — in fact she did not receive the treatment I 
wished. The average duration in all cases where the med- 
icine was administered as directed, was eleven daj's.'' 

Hoping for your success. 

John M. Martin, 
Seventy cases, one death. Grove City, Penna. 

May, 1897. 



19 



"I am very much pleased with your treatment for 
typhoid fever. During the fall I treated seventeen cases of 
the fever— eight by the Brand method, with three deaths, 
and the next nine had your treatment exactly as you re- 
commend it and all were out of bed inside of three weeks. 
Your method is rational, scientific and ideal, and should be 
given a fair test. The patient must be saturated just as you 
direct." 

Frank N. Mead, 
Nine cases, no death. Bristow, Iowa. 

"I have been treating typhoid fever by 3^our method for 
the past two years, and during that time I have had 36 un- 
doubted cases, with one death, a young lady aged 18 years 
whom I was called to see in the third week and who had 
been previously treated by an irregular. Soon after I saw 
her, perforation occurred and she died in about 36 hours. 
The average duration in the 35 cases, was 14 days. I 
have had only one relapse, a young man of 24 years, who 
ate heartily of fish, in very early convalescence. The sec- 
ond attack only lasted a few da3^s and he then made 
a rapid recovery. Until I adopted your mode of treat- 
ment I thought (with man}' others) that we had very 
little influence in shortening the disease, but since I 
have used this treatment I am confident that we have 
not only the means of shortening every case (provid- 
ing we see them early), but the ravages of the disease are 
prevented so that our patients make a rapid recovery and 
never have any grave sequelae. Soon after I became con- 
vinced that no other treatment could have the same results, 
I advised Dr. Caughlin, of this city, as well as my brother, 
Dr. G, W. Stone, of Metamora, Mich., to adopt it, which 
they did, with excellent results. I have learned that I get 
best results when I give early, rapid and large doses, there 
being little or no danger of producing the specific effect of the 
mercurial if saline cathartics are given frequently enough 



20 



to keep the bowels moving freely three or four times within 
the 24 hours. I feel that you have the true view of this very 
important subject, notwithstanding the strong critical ele- 
ment you have to meet." 

David A. Stone, 
Thirty-six cases. One death. Bay City, Michigan. 

"Enclosed please find answers to your questions together 
with the charts which I have kept of a few cases. I regret 
now that I have neglected to keep more of them since they 
would furnish material for your use, but the keeping of such 
under your treatment becomes monotonous owing' to their 
likeness to each other. Since following your advice (like 
the Irishman, who said, when you see a head, hit it,) I treat 
all doubtful cases as typhoid fever, but these are not in- 
cluded in my report. I have never had occasion to regret 
having applied this aphorism." 

May, 1897. L. Emerson Wheat, 

Eighteen cases. No death. Philadelphia. 

"I want to tell you about twenty-five cases of typhoid 
lever that I have treated since July 1st, 1895. The first 
thirteen were treated under the old plan, that is quinine, 
iodine, carbolic acid, salol, veratrum, etc. Two died 
Irom perforation of the bowels. Twelve were treated with 
your toimulaNo. 1, etc., and also sponging. All made a good 
recovery. The majority of these were serious cases. I 
commenced the use of your treatment with no faith in 
it, but the value of it showed itself so plainly that I was 
bound to know what was doing the work." 

Sevier D. Clark, 

Thirteen cases. No death. Nocona, Texas. 

"I have treated twenty cases with your 'abortive treat- 
ment.' I am highly pleased with my experience and wish 
for you great success and still greater achievement in our 



21 



profession for the good of humanity. I have never man- 
aged typhoid patients so easily and with as much confi- 
dence, in an experience of over thirty years, as I do now 
with your treatment always at hand." 

William M. Wright, 
Forty cases. No death. Huntington, Tennessee. 

"After giving your treatment a most thorough trial in 
twenty-one cases of typhoid fever, thirteen of which I had 
under treatment at one time in the same locality, it be- 
hooves me to let you know how greatly it has been appre- 
ciated by both patients and by myself. 

"In November, I found the country undergoing an 
'epidemic of typhoid fever. Out of the twenty-one cases 
there have been but two where hemorrhage gave any 
trouble, and in no instance was it alarming; I never stopped 
the treatment. I have had no fatal case. What convinces me 
in regard to the plan is that nearly all of these cases were 
amongst the 'poor white trash,' the surroundings misera- 
able, etc. The treatment is all right and the sooner the 
profession gets 'on to' the fact, the better for all concerned." 

Claude Wolcott, 
Canadian, Texas. 

"My thirtieth case of typhoid fever within ten months, 
was discharged to-day, cured. It was a remarkable case all 
through, temperature 103 F., and all symptoms well devel- 
oped. On the eleventh day the temperature reached normal. 
Twelfth day the patient ate some ginger-snaps, and had a 
hemorrhage from the bowels which continued at short in- 
tervals all day. The temperature never rose any. The 
patient made a rapid recovery, thus showing, of course, the 
entire extermination of the typhoid bacilli." Ibid. 

Thirty cases. No death. 



22 



"I have used Dr. Woodbridge's treatment with very grat- 
ifying results." 

William T. Ingram, 
Twelve cases. No death. Murphysboro, 111. 

"To rny mind the piloting of the ship of life through 
this dread disease, with no surer guide than anxious expec- 
tancy and with that uncertainty of knowledge as to exact 
conditions within the alimentary tract, seems hazardous in- 
deed. It is clinical experience rather than theory that 
talks, now-a-days." 

Earl Bigham, 
No death. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

"During September and October, our little village passed 
through one of the worst epidemics of typhoid fever in its 
history. All of my patients improved under this treat- 
ment. Their charts show a steplike decline to normal 
temperature, which in most of them is reached in two 
weeks or less. 

"I believe that the mortality from typhoid fever would be 
greatly lessened if pt^sicians would use the Woodbridge 
treatment. I had excellent opportunities during this epi- 
demic to test its efficacy, and, until something better is 
found, shall continue to use it in typhoid fever." 

John J. Orton, 

Eight cases. No death. Randolph, Ohio. 

"Since 1853, I have practiced medicine, and in the many 
cases of typhoid fever I have attended I never felt safe till 
the patient was well again, but since using the Woodbridge 
treatment the patients get well without a bad symptom, and 
the disease has lost its terrors. I write, however, more par- 
ticularly to suggest the use of the same treatment for 
dysentery, as my success with it in this disease has been 
phenomenal." 

J. Ralston Wells, 
Twelve cases. No death. Philadelphia, Penna. 



23 



"I have had no deaths under your treatment. 1 was not 
able to abort two cases, as I first saw them too late. Both had 
hemorrhage, but got well." 

George A. Ramsaur, 
Seventeen cases. No death. China Grove, N. C. 

"I have treated seven cases of typhoid fever by your 
method. The average duration of the disease was 14 days. 
The average duration of the treatment was nine days. I 
have had no deaths and on an average have instituted treat- 
ment on the fifth day." 

David F. Manning, 
Seven cases. No death. Marshall, Missouri. 

"I enclose the clinical charts of three cases of typhoid 
fever which I treated by the Woodbridge method last fall. 
They all recovered. I intend to try this treatment again, 
as I believe you are on the right line and I think it is the 
best method we have at the present time for typhoid fever." 

S. S. C. Phippen, 

Nine cases. No death. Owasso, Mich. 

"To dismiss the subject with the statement that ' the chief 
merit of the 'Woodbridge treatment is its harmlessness,' as 
has been done by one of our most distinguished clinicians, 
who had never given the treatment a trial, seems to me 
tantamount to prohibiting one from attempting to improve 
upon present methods of practice. Permit me to direct at- 
tention to the rapidly growing statistics upon which the 
claims of Woodbridge are based. The present writer now 
reports twenty-one consecutive recoveries which occurred in 
his private practice during the last two years. Although 
no death occurred, the results (especially in the direction ot 
aborting the disease), albeit, not discouraging to one who had 
not expected much, were much less brilliant than those re- 
ported by our friend from Ohio. Nevertheless there is 



24 



enough merit in the conception of intestinal antisepsis and 
drainage, to warrant one in giving it fair play. No one has 
a right to condemn it without proof." 

William E. Quinne, 
Twenty-one cases. No death. Chicago, Illinois. 

"I am favorably impressed with your method and I will 
certainly make use of it again if I have a case." 

Matthew 7 F. Ryan, 
One case. No death. Rumford Falls, Maine. 

"I treated eight cases of typhoid fever with your treat- 
ment during the months of October and November, and I am 
pleased to say, with success. They were typical, well-de- 
veloped typhoid cases, of w 7 hich there could be no doubt. 
Four were not so well developed and there might be some 
doubt about them (but not to my mind), as they were all 
convalescing inside of ten days. They received no other 
k medicine but the Woodbridge treatment. From my ex- 
perience I firmly believe that these cases were shortened 
from two to three weeks." 

J. R. Rogers, 
Twenty cases. No death. Louisville, Ohio. 

"I have used in all my cases of typhoid fever 3 T our treat- 
ment. Dr. Stealy, my partner, has treated since we began 
your treatment, twenty-nine cases without a death. I have 
not lost any of my cases. One of them had severe hemor- 
rhage and one of Dr. Stealy 's as w T ell, yet they recovered. I 
shall use your treatment until I see something that I think 
is more rational. Hoping in the interest of humanity that 
your treatment will prove all that you desire for it." 

William S. Caldwell, 

Ten cases. No death. Freeport, Illinois. 



25 



"I have had eighteen cases during this summer and fall. In 
none of these cases was there intestinal hemorrhage except 
the first, which I reported, and none died. The most of these 
cases were not wanting in virulency. I have charts of them 
and the number of days under treatment runs from fifteen 
to twenty-four. I find that many of my patients had 
the disease a week or more before coming under my care. 
I believe your antiseptic treatment is the rational treatment 
for typhoid fever. Under its use the course of the disease 
is greatly modified ; tympanites is prevented ; the tongue 
remains moist throughout ; delirium is rare and the intes- 
tinal tract is placed in the best possible condition for the 
healing of the wounds. I am certainly thankful that I dis- 
covered your articles in the Journal." 

Harry G. Chritzman, 

Eighteen cases. No death. Welsh Run, Penn. 

"In both cases in which I used the Woodbridge treatment 
it acted like a charm and I shall certainly try it in every 
case of typhoid fever. My neighbor, Dr. A. C. Blincoe, has 
tried it in three or four cases, and is pleased with its results." 

Hugh D. Rodman, 

Two cases. No death. Bardstown, Kentucky. 

"Having used the Woodbridge treatment in a modified 
manner, for the last six months, I would say that I am 
pleased, na}-, delighted, and I desire to know more of a 
treatment which is destined to revolutionize the modern 
treatment of typhoid fever." 

James Cotter, 
Hickman, Nebraska. 

"I could report other cases, but deem it not necessary. It 
has proven a valuable intestinal antiseptic, and in my prac- 
tice has given entire satisfaction." 

James H. Hale, 

Osceola, Ark. 



26 



''To the discussion of your paper at Hot Springs, a 
patient of mine owes today her escape from a lingering at- 
tack of typhoid fever. I had just lost one case and when 
another presented itself — I remembered what I had heard 
and at once proceeded to put her on your treatment. Tem- 
perature 103, that peculiar typhoid pulse, dry tongue, head- 
ache, gurgling in the right iliac fossa, nose-bleed, some deliri- 
um. In fact the diagnosis of typhoid lever was perfectly 
justifiable. On the eighth day I discharged my patient. I 
felt like thanking you, and in your efforts to benefit man- 
kind, a kind word of encouragement will be pleasant at 
least." 

Arthur U. Williams, 

Hot Springs, Ark. 

"I have today discharged another patient whom I have 
had under }^our treatment, with very happy results. I 
firmly believe he would have died under the old treatment. 
I am glad to add my testimony, even in these few cases as 
it may serve to cheer you up a little, when yon meet with 
so much opposition." 

Ten cases. No death. Ibid. 

"I would say to the physician who has not given the 
Woodbridge method a full and fair trial, that he should do 
so at once. I personally believe that Woodbridge's name 
will go down into medical history beside the name of 
McDowell, Sims, Morton and the host of others who dared 
to become originators and reformers. " 

Henry E. W. Barnes, 

Three cases. No death. Creston, Iowa. 

"I have used the treatment recommended by you, and the 
medicines prepared by Parke, Davis & Company, as ad- 
vised by you, in five cases of typhoid fever, with much bet- 
ter results than I have ever before obtained by the orthodox 



27 



treatment and I will state that they have all run the usual 
course as stated by you. I am very much pleased with the 
results." 

Frederick J. Bricker, 
Five cases No death. Aurora, Nebraska. 

"I have treated twenty cases with splendid success. Aver- 
age duration of treatment is eight to ten days." 

Frank C. Myers, 
Thirty-five cases. No death. Kalamazoo, Mich. 

" I have recently used your treatment for typhoid fever 
in several cases, and I am simply charmed with it. Kven 
the limited experience I have had inclines me to believe 
that it will prove a blessing to mankind. With warmest 
congratulations." 

Thomas M. Lewis, 
Fourteen cases. No death. White Post, Va. 

" Your pamphlet reads like a romance." 

James P. Lytee, 

Princeton, 111. 

" The palm, however, so far as records go, lies between 
Brand of Germany, who with his disciples treated 1,223 
cases by his method, with twelve deaths, or one per cent., 
and Dr. John E. Woodbridge, now of Cleveland, and his 
followers, who record 1,200 cases with nine deaths, or three- 
fourths of one per cent. Brand himself treated 342 cases 
with one death. Dr. Woodbridge treated 400 cases without 
a death. Brand's treatment is without drugs, and is diffi- 
cult to carry out in private practice, while in uncomplicated 
cases Dr. Woodbridge uses drugs without auxiliary 
measures. His treatment can be used under all conditions 
or circumstances. One of these men labored earnestly and 
unremittingly for over thirty years before he saw his treat- 
ment generally adopted in his own country and in but few 



28 



places outside of it. The other has for thirteen years used 
every honorable means to place before us his treatment so 
successful in his own hands, with this result : That in his 
report in the journal of the A. M. A. only one hundred and 

seventeen physicians i?i this broad land were using it. Ibid. 

" I will be pleased to give your treatment a trial in the 
wards of the Aultman Hospital and report the results and 
give you credit for the same. Hoping that you have 
'found it.' " 

Edgar J. March, 

Canton, Ohio. 

" Enclosed find two charts. The first was to my mind a 
t}'pical case. No. 2 was a trained nurse, who had just come 
from caring for a family, all of whom had typical and severe at- 
tacks. She came to Canton and asked me to give her the 
Woodbridge treatment, as she had nursed my first case and 
was pleased with the results obtained in it. I feel that you 
are in the right track." 

Four cases. No death. Ibid. 

Aultman Hospital, 39 cases. 

" That 3 r ou have struck the correct treatment, lam further 
convinced, not onty by your own brilliant success, but by 
the very remarkable run of the course of the disease in four 
cases which I treated in September, following your 
directions as nearly as possible. No one with intelli- 
gence, it would seem to me, would question the excellence 
of the treatment, alter having tried it, especially with 
such testimonials as you have presented from those 
who cannot possibly be interested in your success. In 
all earnestness and without intending gross flattery, I 
here predict, that in the near future the name of John Eliot 
Woodbridge will be classed with that of Jenner and Pasteur, 
Sims, McDowell, and Battie of Rome, Ga., as benefactors of 
mankind, and it behooves every young physician of America 



29 



to step forward and ' render unto Caesar that which is 
Caesar's,' i. e., to render due homage and give credit unto 
the man who has demonstrated his ability to solve the 
greatest problem of therapeutics, — that of the treatment of 
typhoid fever successfully. You, I fear, will have to appeal 
to the younger physicians of America to thoroughly test 
your treatment. I was interne in the Memphis City Hos- 
pital nearly two years, and had a large opportunity of treat- 
ing t5 r phoid fever with * * * but although it seem- 
ingly modified the disease I have no recollection of one case 
being cut short. I have been in private practice for five 
years and can't say that I have had any better results than 
in hospital practice. In these cases, after two or three days 
of treatment, the fever could be and was controlled by the 
antiseptics administered. I feel, with further experience, 
that I can have as good results as you have had. These few 
cases which I present (few in number, but brilliant in results), 
convince me that you have struck the keynote. I must 
return thanks for the great benefit I have seen result from 
its use. I remain, yours sincerely," 

William Bayard Shields, 

Saint Francis, Arkansas. 

"I have notes of twenty-eight cases treated. One case 
had such a high temperature and recovered so quickly, that 
if he had not been covered with rose-spots I should have 
decided that I had made a mistake in diagnosis. The case 
that died was neglected — did not have proper nursing. 

Thirty-four cases. Two deaths. Ibid. 

"I have been using it of late in four cases and am getting 
splendid results." 

Howard M. Fenton, 
Four cases. No death. Welshfield, Ohio. 

"Enclosed find chart of temperature in our case of ty- 
phoid. I discharged her yesterday, going around the house 



30 



as if she had not been sick — she was a little pale. She had 
had whooping cough ; she did not get low at all but would 
pick a banjo and sing a little song, in fact she was just 
comfortably sick all through and had no delirium or tym- 
panites after the first week. I will try the method again." 

Geo. O. Frasier, 
Thirteen cases. One death. Cleveland, Ohio. 

"I have one case of typhoid of about eight days duration 
and one just beginning (probably), and shall try the treat- 
ment." 

Spencer M. Free, 
Du Bois, Penna. 

"I am treating four cases at present. I want to give the 
treatment a fair and a thorough trial. I have followed the 
directions you have given and shall hope to see good results. 
We have had a good deal of typhoid, much of it is severe." 

Ibid. 

"I have used your plan of treatment in a few cases and I 
am much pleased with it. It is the best treatment that I 
have employed. I shall prepare a paper for presentation to 
our West Branch Medical Society. I feel sure that the 
more men who can be. induced to use the treatment the less 
will be the mortalit} r in typhoid fever." 

Ten cases. One death. Ibid. 

"I must confess that I had not enough confidence in the 
antiseptic treatment to give it a test sooner, but I am con- 
vinced now that had I instituted it in the beginning of nry 
first case, I could have shortened it ten days. I am aware 
that these few cases can be of no real benefit to you in mak- 
ing up your report, but they are sufficient to convince me 
that the treatment is of inestimable value to humanity." 

S. P. Snyder, 

Three cases. One death. New Bedford, Ohio. 



31 



"I have treated fifteen cases with an average duration of 
twelve days after beginning treatment. I have lost two cases, 
both by perforation, one the second day after seeing him 
first, although it was the tenth day of sickness, the other a 
fat German, weighing 300 pounds — a brewer. I no longer 
dread typhoid fever, but find that I can rely on bringing the 
temperature to normal in 12 days if I can get from three to 
five stools a day — can give plenty of medicine and can 
make my patient take nothing but egg, malted milk, and 
meat soups for nourishment. All physicians of this place 
are using your treatment — they speak well of it. At Ash- 
land, Wisconsin, and at Alexandria, Indiana, I have per- 
sonal knowledge that it is used with success. Feeling very 
grateful to you for your persistance in bringing this 
repeatedly before the profession, even when persecuted by 
unbelievers." 

Frank A. Southwick, 
Fifteen cases. Two deaths. Stevens Point, Wisconsin. 

"In my use of your treatment of typhoid fever I will sa}^ 
I have had in my own practice 30 cases and I have insti- 
tuted it in many other cases where I was called in consulta- 
tion. I am greatly impressed with the treatment and use 
nothing else. It has given me better results than any other. 
I carry out the plan to the letter." 

Jeremiah H. Steady, 

Thirty-eight cases. One death. Freeport, Illinois. 

"I have used your treatment in a much larger number of 
cases than the fifteen reported, but not exclusively. I have 
derived much comfort and profitable instruction from your 
book, for which I am truly grateful. The principle of your 
treatment is right in my opinion and time will prove it. 
May you live to enjoy your honor is my wish." 

William S. Allee, 

Fifteen cases. One death. May 1897, Olean, Missouri. 



32 



"The Woodbridge treatment has long since passed 
the experimental stage and is being used sucessfully by- 
hundreds of physicians in the United States and, no doubt, 
by as many others in loreign countries. The time is 
coming, very soon, when the physician losing a case of 
uncomplicated typhoid fever will have his knowledge and 
skill questioned, and justly so ; hence it behooves every 
practitioner to use the best treatment. The Woodbridge 
treatment appeals to the thoughtful as rational and scien- 
tific, because it not only destroys, but removes the cause of 
the disease ; it combines the antiseptic and eliminative 
methods. It is also more or less systemic in its effect, as 
some of the ingredients of the prescriptions are eliminated 
by other organs, as well as by the intestinal canal. The 
alimentary canal is quite accessible for purposes of treat- 
ment ; it may be almost completely sterilized by the proper 
use of antiseptic medicines, combined with proper elimina- 
tion. This treatment acts first, by gradually producing an 
intestinal antiseptic effect; second, by carrying away the 
toxic and infecting material — its eliminative effect ; and 
lastly, by its permanent septic and local effect, keeping the 
intestinal canal in a constant and continuous aseptic con- 
dition, until every vestige of the disease producing germs is 
thoroughly eliminated. Reinfection is prevented by the 
active condition of the bowels ; the temperature is lowered; 
the appetite restored, and the improvement continues until 
often the patient is led to remark that he no longer feels 
sick. If the disease has passed to the stage of ulceration, 
the treatment is just as rational, though the abortive 
effect is not so prompt. I first used this method in August, 
1894, since which time I have treated a number of cases. With 
this treatment it is rarely necessary to give medicines to 
reduce the temperature, as it usually commences to decline 
as soon as the remedies have taken effect, and free catharsis 
results. When the treatment is commenced early, the 
patient need not go to bed, nor be restricted in diet nor in 



33 



social enjoyment, and sometimes he need, not neglect his 
business. When we consider that an unjust condemnation 
of this treatment may make us responsible for the death of 
many people, let us weigh our opinions carefully before 
expressing them to others whom they might mislead. My 
results have been all that I could wish for, and I am, by 
this evidence, forced to the conclusion that 'death is a 
wholly unnecessary consequence of typhoid fever' and that 
every case in which proper treatment is instituted suffi- 
ciently early in the course of the disease, can be aborted." 

"I have treated ten cases; average duration of disease, 
ten days and have had no deaths. (Passive treatment lasted 
two days.)" 

Walter N. Sherman, 
Fifteen cases. No death. Merced, California. 

"I have given your great discovery a good trial in 28 
cases of well defined typhoid fever. All made quick recov- 
eries in an average of eighteen days. Have used it in 
six cases of dysentery and four cases of enteritis. I take 
No. 2 tablets myself for flatulent dyspepsia and find them the 
best remedies I have ever used. I did not keep clinical 
charts. The cases were all well marked — diarrhoea, rose- 
colored spots, and the nervous symptoms were pronounced. 
In most of the cases the fever was well on to the second 
week before treatment was commenced." 

"Typhoid fever 28 cases, dysentery 6 cases, enteritis 4 
cases, dyspepsia 1 case." 

Second report, one hundred cases. 

Asa F. Pattee, 
No death. Boston, Mass. 

' 'Both my partner, Dr. Southard, and myself are very 
favorably impressed with the treatment. A few cases were 



34 



treated of which we have no charts, — the others we enclose. 
We have had no deaths with this treatment." 

John E. Wood, 
Eight cases. No death. Marysville, Ohio. 

"There is an epidemic of t} f phoid fever in this locality, 
and I am very desirous of giving your treatment a trial 
and will consider it a favor if yqu wall give me some assis- 
tance." Thomas W. Williams, 

Case}*, Illinois. 

"I have treated sixty cases by your method and not a 
single death. Average duration fifteen da} T s." 

Sixty cases. No death. Ibid. 

"I regret that I have not complete histories of the eigh- 
teen cases of typhoid fever which I treated last fall by the 
'Woodbridge method,' but I assure you I have strong 
mental convictions as regards the great benefit the patients 
derive from your method of treatment." 

Joseph B. Walker, 

Eighteen cases. No death. Effingham, Illinois. 

"I write to congratulate you upon the success of your 
persistent efforts to call the attention of the profession (to 
anything new) to your treatment of typhoid fever. 

I have been calling the attention of the physicians about 
here to it, and you have now many disciples in the western 
part of Iowa. At Glidden, just east of us, many cases 
have been treated successfully on the plan suggested by 
you. At Lake City, I have called the attention of the pro- 
fession to the plan and at the present time many cases are 
being treated accordingly. I have held for a long time that 
death from typhoid fever ought to be as rare as death from 
infection of a wound in the hands of a skilled surgeon. 
I cannot help expressing my appreciation of your efforts." 

Arthur L. Wright, 

Carroll, Iowa. 



35 



"I have treated forty case of typhoid fever since I wrote 
to you. There was a marked shortening of the course of 
the disease, and I think if the case is seen early the dis- 
ease can be aborted. Have had one death. The treatment 
in this case was instituted in the third week. The case was 
a man of sixty-seven years, and in poor general health. 
He recovered from the fever but died about two months 
afterwards from general debility, having no appetite for 
food of any kind. I use your treatment exclusively." 

R. F. Robinson, 

Forty cases. One death. Hallsville, O. 

"I wish to write you in praise of your abortive treatment 
of typhoid fever. For four months this city and its vicinity 
has been visited by an epidemic of typhoid fever. I have 
used your remedies in two hundred and three (203) cases to 
date, with two deaths. One of these refused to take For- 
mula No. 3 for ten days before death. The other fatal case 
— a Finlander girl, in a moment of delirium, escaped into a 
rainstorm and pneumonia supervened. Of the 203 cases, 
149 were aborted — i. e. went about their usual duties in ten 
days from taking to bed. Only twelve of these cases had 
febrile symptoms after the twelfth day. Your method is of 
great value to the entire world and I don't propose to leave 
future generations alone to admit it, but gladly do so now." 

Newton M. Wade, 
Lead, South Dakota. 

Two hundred and thirty-seven cases. Two deaths. 

"I have used your remedies in one case with good results." 

A. E. Walker, 
One case. No death. Argonia, Kansas. 

"I have treated five typical cases of typhoid fever and 
also five others, with influenza complication which by your 
method. My observations and deductions favor your prin- 
ciple of treatment." Alexander M. Vail, 

Rock Rapids, Iowa. 



36 



Five cases typhoid fever, five cases typhoid fever with 
influenza: ten cases. No death. 

"I have treated thirty cases of typhoid fever — the aver- 
age has been about nine days of treatment. In other in- 
stances when I had any doubt as to the diagnosis, I always 
gave the patient the benefit of it and placed them upon the 
Woodbridge treatment without modification. Doctor, your 
treatment will abort typhoid fever and it is the proper treat- 
ment at any stage of the disease." 

Charles M. Vertries, 

Thirty cases. No death. Murrayville, Illinois. 

"I have been using your treatment of typhoid fever for 

four months, during which time I have had an unexpeeted 

degree of success with it, having lost but one out of thirteen 

cases. The one I lost was in its 23d or 24th day of fever 

i 

when I was called in and it then was too late to save it 
by any treatment — the patient dying two days after I saw 
him." 

R. C. Van Dorn. 
Thirteen cases. One death. Cumpos, Sonora, Mexico. 

"I have treated by your method forty cases of typhoid 
fever without a single death, some of them being of the 
severest type. Average duration of illness about two 
weeks. In the future I shall continue to use your treat- 
ment as long as I have the same results as I have had in 
the past." 

DeWitt C. Wilson, 
Forty cases. No death. Ironton, Ohio. 

"I have treated six cases of genuine. typhoid fever. The 
average duration was eighteen days. I have had one death 
from (hemorrhage of the bowels), in which I did not use your 
treatment until the ninth or tenth day of disease." 

Geo. W. Westlake, 

Twelve cases. One death. Red Bluff, Cal. 



37 



"I send you by this mail, charts of cases that were unmis- 
takably typhoid fever. Some of them were the last cases 
where there had been from four to six patients in a family. 
We are well pleased with the results we have had and can 
positively say that it is due to the treatment. Hoping that 
the profession may throw off their prejudice and give you 
due honor and respect." 

Thomas F. Reed, 
Thirty cases. No death, Massillon, Ohio. 

"I send you the chart of Irene W., whom you so kindly 
went with me to see and put on the Woodbridge treatment. 
You will remember that this patient was a little girl of 
twelve years with unmistakable symptoms of typhoid fever. 
Wheri you first saw her she had been sick eight days and 
her temperature was 103.2. By your instruction I put her 
on the regular treatment which you originated and I must 
admit that I was greatly pleased with the results obtained. 
While, as you suggested, it was too late to abort the 
disease, she never had a bad symptom after commenc- 
ing your treatment. The headache, tympanites, restless- 
ness, insomnia, etc., left her within two days. While the 
fever did not leave her entirely for two weeks from the 
time of the commencement of the treatment, she had only 
a feeling of well being, her appetite was good, she slept 
normally and expressed a desire to get up, as she felt almost 
as well as ever. It is needless for me to say that I am very 
much pleased with your treatment and shall certainly con- 
tinue to use it. Permit me to express my thanks to you 
for the kindly interest you took in this case." 

William H. Herrick, 

Three cases. No death. Cleveland, Ohio. 

"I have treated a number of cases this summer by your 
method of treatment with remarkable success. I presented 
these cases and the method of treatment before our Jeffer- 



38 



son County Medical Society at our last meeting and intro- 
duced it previously, orally in the Society, and also to individ- 
ual physicians. Dr. S. M. Free ot Du Bois, Pa., is very 
enthusiastic recently, also Dr. J. J. Brewer of Clarington, 
Pa., who treated a number of cases at my suggestion." 

Abraham F. Balmer, 
Eight cases. No death. Brookrield, Penna. 

"Suffice to say "The Abortive Treatment of Typhoid 
Fever" is a matter of fact, I am convinced, having tested it 
in my practice, thoroughly, and too much camiot be said in 
its praise. In typhoid fever, the treatment of Dr. Wood- 
bridge is without parallel." 

Julian E. Sawyer, 
No death. Mobile, Alabama. 

" I have tried your treatment for typhoid fever but have 
sometimes used some other remedies in connection with it, 
I have been able to abort some cases that I have diagnosed 
as typhoid fever. I have never had a hemorrhage fiom the 
bowels since I began using the medicine — have had one 
death, but it was during the third relapse and the party's 
own fault, in short I believe the treatment is all right. I 
shall continue using the remedies." 

R. E. Servier, 
Twenty-five cases. Three deaths. Liberty, Missouri. 

"I am much interested in the treatment, having used it 
in seventeen cases, all with excellent results, not having lost 
a single case and not having a serious symptom after I get 
them well under the treatment. My cases run a course of 
from ten to fifteen days. They are. usually aborted, leav- 
ing the patient free from shock and long tedious convales- 
cence, which always followed under the old treatment. 
Hoping every physician will give the Woodbridge treat- 
ment a trial." John H. Spencer, 

Seventeen cases. No death. Murrayville, Illinois. 



39 



" Your letter found me with a ease of typhoid fever in 
my own son, a boy of ten, who had but recently recovered 
from a two months attack of chorea, and who had not re- 
gained his flesh and strength and so was in bad shape to 
begin with. I enclose a chart, showing the tempera- 
ture range, which is almost a typical one. Looking 
back over the case now I think I made the mistake 
of not pushing the calomel and podophyllin sufficiently. 
During the second week his condition was ugly and dis- 
couraging, but after beginning the tablets there was 
rapid improvement in his general condition, as well 
as lowering of the temperature. He is now convalescing 
rapidly and I feel that I owe his life to the treatment 
which you have introduced. Doctor, I believe the world 
will, in time, accord to you the honor of making us 
masters of typhoid fever, and I feel I owe you per- 
sonally, a debt of gratitude for having been able to save 
my own child's life." 

Charles C. Stockard,, 
Eighteen cases. No death. Atlanta, Georgia. 

"I have treated eighteen cases of typhoid fever by the 
Woodbridge method. The average duration of fifteen 
cases was thirteen days. There were two deaths. My 
first case was a man brought from Chicago, who had been 
sick two weeks. He came to my office with a temperature 
of had lung complication and hemorrhage of the 

bowels. He was sick twelve weeks (recovered.) Four 
others of this family came down with the fever. The 
Woodbridge method aborted the disease and in eleven days 
they were convalescent. My sixth case was a man who 
had been very sick two weeks and who died in four days after 
the treatment was commenced — had perforation of the 
bowels and died in collapse. The other fatal case was a 
girl of eighteen years who had been sick two weeks before 
I was called. She would have recovered if she had had care. 



40 



I am very much pleased. I think the Woodbridge treatment 
is the treatment. Give me a case in the first week and I 
will show the worst skeptic that the Woodbridge treatment 
will abort typhoid fever." John I. Smith, 

Eighteen cases. Two deaths. Shannon, Illinois. 

"In treating these cases I did not average a visit a day. 
Your treatment has given me the best results and in the 
shortest length of time, of any I have yet pursued." 

Roland J. Stivers, 

Six cases. No death. Lena. Illinois. 

" I treated in all seventeen cases last fall and one in 
January this year, with no deaths. Average treatment 
was about fifteen days. In one case, (a brother, who lived in a 
distant town), I was called about the 12th day of the dis- 
ease. Found him with a rapid pulse, delirious, high tem- 
perature. Put him on the Woodbridge treatment ; after the 
fifth day the indications were more hopeful. From this 
time the patient gradually improved and finally recovered. 
This was a serious case from the beginning as the patient 
was sixty years of age. I am well pleased with the treat- 
ment as some of these cases were very severe." 

Claiborne C. Stivers, 

Thirty-six cases. One death. Horton, Kansas. 

" I am much interested in your work. We have a great 
amount of typhoid fever in our locality. Last autumn and 
winter I personalty treated 40 cases with your remedies 
and with astonishing results. It is the 'up to date' treat- 
ment." 

Frederick A.. Swartwood, 
Forty cases. No death. Waseca, Minnesota. 

"Having many difficulties to surmount in applying your 
treatment during this past summer, I am not yet satisfied 
and cannot fully or conscientiously agree with you that this 



41 



treatment will abort typhoid fever, but I would like to add 
that in the cases where I have used it, that it has certainly 
done better work than anything we have ever used." 

Benjamin Mosby Smith, 
Thirty-seven cases. No death. Davis, W. Virginia. 

"I have treated sixteen cases of typhoid fever — at least six 
of which were diagnosed as typhoid by other physicians and 
all were so reported to the Board of Health, every one of 
which made rapid recoveries in from ten days to three 
weeks. So far I have lost no case and the treatment has 
materially lessened the duration of the disease." 

W. Blair Stewart, 

Sixteen cases. No death. Atlantic City, N. J. 

" I have had ten cases, all of w r hich have been aborted 
in from eight to fourteen days. I have the temperature charts 
and histories of three cases. I fully endorse your treatment 
and under its judicious use I do not expect to lose any 
patients. The treatment has not been generally used in this 
section,' but I do not think there has been a single death 
or serious complication in any case where it has been used. 
I regard it as a great boon to our fellowmen and believe 
the time is not far distant when it will be universally used, 
perhaps with some modifications." 

Joseph A. Crook, 
Thirty- two cases. Two deaths. Jackson, Tenn. 

' ' Allow me to thank you very sincerely for the great 
benefit you have bestowed upon me and my patients in giv- 
ing me the specific treatment for typhoid fever. I happen 
to have a case now on hand in which I have begun the 
treatment." Ibid. 

Eight cases. No death. 



42 



" There were no grave sequelae in the cases which re- 
covered — all of them soon enjoying splendid health." 

Peter Stuwart, 
Seven cases. One death. Hadley, Michigan. 

" I gladly furnish these statistics and have every confi- 
dence in the method." 

George E. Allen, 
Thirty-seven cases. One death. Youngstown, Ohio. 

" Though in these cases I did not obtain as good results 
as you have done, still (excepting the first case), the fever 
did not last half as long, on an average, as under former 
treatment. Last fall I furnished Drs. A. B. Lathrop of 
Swanton, and Parker of Delta, with sufficient of your tab- 
lets and capsules to ireat one patient each. They reported 
that the fever was controlled in about fourteen days." 

W. A. Scott, 

Seven cases. One death. Swanton, Ohio. 

" I have treated six cases by } T our method of treatment 
without a death. The fever aborted in from ten to twelve 
days. The cases were all treated early except one." 

Charles T. Benner, 
Tiffin, Ohio. 

Twenty-three cases. Two deaths. Eleven days. 

" I have been using the abortive treatment of typhoid 
fever advised by you and with what I consider good results. 
I have treated eighteen cases since I commenced using it, 
with one fatal case, and that was not wholly in my control. 
Shall still continue to use this method when typhoid pre- 
sents itself." 

David C. Harmison, 
Eighteen cases. One death. Bath, Illinois. 



43 



" I followed closely your articles in the Journal of The 
American Medical Association and, during the last summer, 
I have tried your treatment of typhoid fever. I also had 
some of my friends use it. I have a record of over sixty- 
five cases treated during the fall months, without a single 
loss. I desire to thank you for what you have done for the 
profession." John W. Fei/ty, 

Sixty -five cases. No death. Abeline, Kansas. 

" I have been using this method for more than 
three years, during which time I have treated ten 
cases of unmistakable typhoid — in my own practice with- 
out a death. I saw two cases in consultation, after the 
third week of the disease, both of which died, but in no 
case where I saw the patient before the second week have I 
had a death and in all the disease was aborted before the 
fifteenth day." Elijah J. Morgan, 

Decatur, Illinois. 

Case No. 1 — "Severe form of typhoid, first seen by me 
about the tenth or twelfth day. Put him immediately on 
No. 1, and he was progressing finely, when on the 16th day, 
acute lobar pneumonia developed and the patient died in 
thirty-six hours. This patient had poor care — was in an 
old tumbledown log house and his surroundings were 
unfavorable. Case No. 4 — Female, age 23 years, was first 
seen by me about the tenth day. She came from Duluth 
where typhoid was epidemic. She had three intestinal 
hemorrhages and was quite sick. I enclose a copy of h^r 
chart. Her temperature touched normal in seven days and 
remained so. I believe that your method offers more in 
treating typhoid fever than any other and I have been well 
satisfied with it, in my limited experience, and shall con- 
tinue to use it as occasion offers." 

William S. Smith, 
Fourteen cases. Two deaths. St. Clair, Minn. 



44 



" I am fully satisfied that your treatment is the treat- 
ment for typhoid fever and I am confident that the world 
will ever remember you as its benefactor." 

J. G. Steiner, 
• Knoxdale, Penna. 

"I have succeeded with your former method so remark- 
ably that I am loath to change. If you have found that this 
modified method gives better results I will gratefully 
adopt it." Ibid. 

" I am very much impressed with the many advantages 
it has over any method that has come within my knowl- 
edge. I at first thought your claims for it were entireiy too 
extravagant and they could not stand the test when practi- 
cally made. I no longer doubt the efficacy of your treat- 
ment when judiciously administered. The rationality of 
the treatment is in keeping with the results." 

John Debo, 

Five cases. No death. Texas, Kentucky. 

" During the epidemic in this city in 1892, I lost months 
of valuable time and nearly lost my life Irom the dread 
disease, hence you need not ask me why I am interested in 
anything that will abort it." 

Robert C. Beattie, 
Fifteen cases. No death. Pittsburgh, Penna. 

' 1 Your plan is a great improvement on the old style of 
doing. I have not had one death since I began it. I have 
had some cases that seemed very unpromising, but all came 
through in good shape. I have had cases enough to test 
the treatment thoroughly and thank you for bringing it to 
my notice." Ibid. 

11 It gives me great pleasure to answer in the highest 
praise of the abortive treatment of typhoid fever. Before 
using it I took charge of a case with apprehension and 



45 



dread, now it is with pleasure. I assure my patients a 
speedy and safe recovery, I treated twelve cases of undis- 
puted typhoid fever, about the same number of typhoid 
malarial fever, four cases of malignant malarial congestion 
and one case of membranous croup, and in every instance 
successfully. In all but one or two tymanites was slightly 
developed; I had no hemorrhage at all. I would as soon 
think of treating malaria without quinine as to treat ty- 
phoid fever without this treatment. In fact I regard it as 
more certain than quinine for malaria. It is superb." 

"It takes from the physician that all-absorbing care and 
anxiety for the patient, that formerly was his, while using 
the old-time methods of treatment. Last fall in this local- 
ity, pernicious malaria was more common than I have ever 
seen it before and typhoid fever was very plentiful ; but 
thanks to the Woodbridge treatment, I did not lose a 
patient from either disease. Typhoid fever usually ran its 
course in from ten to fourteen days." 

Berry Bo wen, 
Thirty-one cases. One death. Dukedom, Tenn. 

Gentlemen: You have heard the strongest passages of 
every adverse criticism of the "abortive treatment of 
typhoid fever "of which I have any knowledge — whether 
spoken in debate, published in medical journals, or written 
to me in personal letters, by any physician who has used 
or has pretended to use it. You have heard also a few brief 
excerpts from a very few of the many hundreds of highly 
commendatory reports in my possession. 

The method which I have advised for the treatment of 
typhoid fever is founded upon the theory that all of the 
diseases in which it is truly applicable are caused or at least 
accompanied by, a germ whose toxins are dangerous or in- 
jurious to man, and it is dependent for its results upon the 
great principle of antisepsis which has made modern sur- 
gery possible. In theory it is rational and scientific and 



46 



these reports show that in practice it will bear the most 
crucial tests. 

These reports deal with 5,449 cases, 105 of which 
ended fatally. (One other patient died one month after hav- 
ing been discharged convalescent, from tuberculosis; another 
two months after discharge from debility ; and another six 
weeks after, from pre-existing bowel trouble). This is a 
death rate of less than two per cent. 

It is unfortunate for the abortive treatment of typhoid 
fever that those who use it soon acquire a reputation which 
results in their being called to see a large number of cases 
after less skillful practitioners have exhausted their re- 
sources and after fatal complications or sequelae have super- 
vened. Therefore, there are included in these statistics a 
large number of deaths that should by rights be excluded. 

Thus of the 105 deaths, nine died within forty-eight 
hours after the physician who instituted the treatment was 
called. In many instances the physician first saw the 
patient after the appearance of intestinal hemorrhage or 
other alarming conditions. 

Several deaths are known to have occurred in cases in 
which the physician, after having treated the patient for 
days or weeks by some other method, had realized that a 
fatal termination was imminent and who then adopted, this 
method, or some part of it, as a dernier resort. 

As a large number of reports have been received since 
this paper was read, the statistics are corrected up to date 
and now stand as follows : 

Number of cases treated, 9,177; number of deaths, 173. 
This is a death rate of 1.88 per cent. The average dura- 
tion of illness in 5,543 cases which recovered, is 12.7 days 
this (being all the cases in which it is given). Of the cases 
that recovered forty-two were complicated with pneumonia, 
105 had intestinal hemorrhage, thirty-seven were pregnant 
women, four of whom miscarried and recovered and two 
died. Of these 9,177 cases 9,004 recovered, and of 



47 



these latter, clinical charts or temperature records of 
558 cases have been submitted, of these 513 had a tem- 
perature of 103 or above ; and 358 of 104 or above ; 146 of 
105 or above ; and 18 of 106 or above ; during the first 
week of treatment. 368 of these cases had a temperature 
of 103 or above ; 250 of 104 or above ; 100 of 105 or above ; 
and twelve of 106 or above, when they came under the 
care of the physician who instituted this treatment and 
reported the cases. 

Of all the cases which had extremely high temperatures, 
105 or above, during the first week of treatment and recov- 
ered, the duration of illness is given in 87, the average 
being 13 and 4-7 days, and this includes several cases in 
which the duration was prolonged by grave complications. 

If these are representative cases, the gravity of the 
lesions and excessively high temperatures during the first 
week indicate that either the epidemics or outbreaks of ty- 
phoid fever in which they occurred were of unusual 
severity or that the observers have had more than their 
share of "bad cases." 

Contrast these results with the statistics that have been 
given by the best authorities, viz.: fifteen to seventeen 
per cent, of deaths. (During our civil war, there ccurred34,- 
543 deaths out of 148,760 cases of typhoid, typho-malarial, 
and common continued fevers, a death rate of 23.22 per 
cent.) and an average duration of forty-two days illness, 
three per cent, of relapses and sixty to eighty per cent, of 
miscarriages among pregnant women. 

It may be argued (and with apparent justice), that an 
average duration of twelve and seven-tenths days of illness 
and a death rate of one and eighty-eight one-hundreths per 
cent, from typhoid fever under this treatment is not a com- 
plete fulfilment of the promises that have been made for it, 
but it should be observed that a large majority of all of the 
deaths of which full data are given, were in cases in which 
the treatment was instituted late in the course of the dis- 



48 



ease, in those in which complications were present when 
it was instituted or in which it was not properly car- 
ried out. In only thirteen of the 173 deaths in which the 
reports seem to show that proper treatment was instituted 
during the first week of the disease, has death resulted. It 
should be remembered that the opinion that death or pro- 
tracted illness are unnecessary consequences of the disease 
is based on the hypothesis that there is an early stage of 
typhoid fever in which, if proper treatment be properly ap- 
plied, it may always be aborted. The value of abortive 
treatment should be measured not by the statistics of the 
cases treated at all stages of the disease, by all kinds of 
modifications of the method, but by T the results obtainable 
by its careful and scientific application at the earliest possi- 
ble moment of the attack. 

DISCUSSION. 

Dr. John McCurdy, Youngstown, O. — I will take 
the time of the Society just a minute. I w T ill say- 
that perhaps I w r as one of the first to accept Dr. Wood- 
bridge's treatment of typhoid fever. I think I know some- 
thing of the disease, having had it myself and having prac- 
ticed four years in the arm}'. I did not like the treatment 
when I first tried it. I will say that I now consider it bet- 
ter than any other single treatment I have used, but I can- 
not go so far as Dr. Woodbridge and say I do not lose 
patients. I have lost some patients and I expect to lose 
others. I have modified the treatment somewhat on ac- 
count of the exigencies that came up. This discovery has 
friends and enemies. Many laugh at the treatment because 
they have not given it a trial, and many because they would 
condemn anything new\ But there is not an intelligent 
practitioner in this room who does not treat typhoid fever 
on the general plan that Dr. Woodbridge has suggested. 
Very few perhaps use his exact prescription, but most of 
you use a modified form of it, as I do. Therefore, I sa}- the 
doctor has put us on a plan of treating t3 7 phoid fever which 
was not well established before. There are a great many 
who claim to have discovered America, but sensible and 



49 



honest people say Columbus discovered America ; and so 
while we do not accept in toto Dr. Woodbridge's plan, we do 
say he was the first to positively carry out this treatment. 
Therefore. I believe Dr. Woodbridge deserves a great deal 
of credit, for pointing out and persisting in the plan he now 
expounds. 

Remarks by Dr. Jenner, Dayton, O. — I would like 
to add my testimony to that of the gentleman who just 
preceded me. Although I do not follow Dr. Wood- 
bridge's treatment just as laid down by him, I ac- 
knowledge that I follow the idea he has given, and I must 
bear testimony that it has had in my hands, (although I have 
not had as large experience as most of you), wonderful re- 
sults. I have not only cured typhoid fever, but I can tes- 
tify that I have aborted typhoid fever. 

Dr. L. B. Tuckerman, Cleveland. — I do not desire 
to criticize Dr. Woodbridge's treatment, but my im- 
pression is that under any treatment of typhoid fever 
there will be occasional deaths. We think we have a 
pretty good record in St. Alexis Hospital. Of the almost 
300 cases we have had there in the last three years, largely 
brought in in the third week of the disease, many moribund 
when brought there and some dying soon after being 
brought in, we have lost only 13 cases. We use calomel, 
when it is indicated, and other intestinal antiseptics. But, 
gentlemen, there is more to typhoid fever than antisepsis of 
the intestine. Three cases of typhoid fever have been ex- 
amined in this city in the last three years, in which the 
typhoid bacillus has been found in the meninges of the 
brain, and no intestinal antisepsis is going to remove bacilli 
from the meninges of the brain. Those bacilli were in the 
meninges of the brain in the earlier stage of the disease, as 
shown by the clinical symptoms. Then there is a case 
reported here in the Cleveland Medical Gazette, in which 
there were circulating in the blood streptococci and the 
typhoid bacillus. Intestinal antisepsis will not reach them. 
That is not saying intestinal antisepsis is not the proper 
thing, for it is the proper thing, but not the whole thing, 
even with it you will lose patients. In the majority of 
cases, by the time the patient is fairly sick, the baccilli are 
well beyond the intestine. 



50 



Remarks by Dr. Charles S. Chamberlin, Kinsman. 
— I suppose it is generally accepted that typhoid fever 
cannot be aborted, yet I wish to state one case briefly. 
The patient was a woman of about thirty-six years 
her surroundings were extremely unsanitary. She lived in 
a hovel on the edge of a quite abrupt hill, and from the 
rear door there were steps that descended several feet, and 
at the foot of the stair there was a spring, the basin of which 
was about 5 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep and filled with 
water. The case occurred in the fall when the water was 
ice cold. At about 11:00 o'clock the case was seen by her 
attendants for the last time that night, and in the morning 
it was discovered she was missing. After sometime she 
was found lying at the foot of these steps. It was several 
years ago and I have not the exact data, but I think it was 
about the tenth day. I do not think there could have been 
a mistake in the diagnosis. The temperature had been 
ranging high. She had, while delirious, found her way 
out of the house and fallen dowm the steps into this spring. 
She finally managed to scramble out of it, and when she 
was found at 7 o'clock the next morning she seemed to be 
moribund. It took a long time and persistent effort before 
any appearance of life could be restored. And yet that 
patient was well within one week. There was no more 
fever irom that time. It was the end of the disease. 

Remarks by Dr. C. F. Hoover, Cleveland. — In view 
of the remarks and the possibility of aborting typhoid 
fever, I think there has been a strong effort to twist 
the diagnosis to fit the pill. I do not think any practi- 
tioner feels so helpless as when trying to differentiate be- 
tween typhoid fever and miliary tuberculosis and several; 
other fevers, probably intestinal in oriein. The other argu- 
ment to lift the so-called "Woodbridge treatment" out of 
the realm of empiricism and place it on a scientific basis 
is the statement that its value is that of intestinal antisep- 
sis. I do not think there is much evidence in favor of this. 
It has been demonstrated to be impossible to diminish the 
number or modify the bacilli in the intestinal tract by any 
of the intestinal antiseptics. Until the author can place 
the diagnosis of typhoid fever on a more positive basis, the 
right to place many of the so-called aborted cases under the 
head of typhoid must remain in question. Many such 




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